Auto Manufacturers

Auto Manufacturers: Background

Auto manufacturers monitor a host of legislative issues in Washington, including trade rules and fuel efficiency and safety standards for the latest models of cars and SUVs.

Car manufacturers, including heavy hitters like Ford and GM, generally don't contribute as much as car dealers, with their large number of mom-and-pop showrooms. Dealerships contributed $6 million in 2012, while auto makers gave a comparatively paltry $2.2 million.

Car manufacturers spent $43.5 million in lobbying in 2013, up from 2012 but down from a peak of $58 million in 2007. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers was the biggest spender, to the tune of $6.3 million.

Auto makers go to battle with enviornmental groups each year, to mixed success.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and Enviornmental Working Group lobbied on opposite sides of the Safe Chemicals Act, lobbying reports suggest. Auto makers, with fellow opponents in other industries, successfully killed that bill. The Auto Alliance also fought for a more lenient Clean Air Act that year, along with Ford, but did not succeed in securing looser regulations.

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